Words & Photos | Tony Hutcheson
The weather has always held significant sway over the antics of Nomadic Weekend Away in the Craigieburn Forest way up in the Canterbury high country. High winds, heavy rain and freezing temperatures have left behind them a trail of amusing anecdotes regaling emergency late night tent take downs dressed in undies and gumboots, muddy “slope-style” contests on kids 16” bikes and firepit hucks.
However, the 2021 instalment of Jamie Nicoll’s now legendary long weekend escape will likely be known for its lack of green peas in the curry long before any complaints about the weather. Perfect sunny, windless, warm riding conditions that dried the sodden Craigieburn tracks so rapidly that those who enjoyed a slightly slippery trail on Saturday morning were treated to near perfect riding conditions by lunch time on the same day.
A locked gate at the bottom of the ski access road meant no shuttles this year so long leisurely rides were on the menu. Fortunately, Craigieburn is a fantastic place to spend a day pedaling a bike on some insanely fun trails.
As has become tradition at the Nomadic Weekends, Saturday evening was fuelled by beer and a shared meal courtesy of Santa Cruz Bicycles. No ticket or particular brand of bike required. Just rock up and join in. A great curry served with a massive helping of community spirit.
The shared meal is always followed by a slide show and a talk. Jamie starts this off by wowing everyone with his various global adventures before handing over to one or two invited speakers in possession of suitably worthy adventure stories. This year’s speaker was Dulkara Martig who entertained and captivated the corralled nomads as she recounted her adventures on the Tour Te Waiponamu. The rest of the evening was filled with campfire stories of misadventure and perceived glory from the day’s riding.
Sunday morning breakfast treats were provided by the folk from Yum Granola with a generous serving of spot prizes from Jamie’s many sponsors. Commemorative patches, courtesy of Santa Cruz Bicycles, were issued to anyone who had a mind to ask and Jamie had his Husqvarna sewing machine working hard to keep up with the demand from the groms and a few not-so-groms.
Sunday and Monday provided a most excellent rinse-repeat situation with great trails becoming better and cold beers becoming tastier as the weekend progressed.
Another Nomadic Weekend Away done and dusted. This one scores a “Mint-As” on the mint-o-meter and we’ll pass the baton to you good folk in the lower North Island for Jamie’s next instalment.
If you haven’t popped along to one of Jamie Nicoll’s Nomadic Weekend Away non-events yet, you should. If you haven’t been riding in Craigieburn, you should. If you haven’t donated to Craigieburn Trails, you should do that too.
Crews from Craigieburn Trails and volunteers from the Nomadic Weekend were out in force over the course of the weekend fixing winter drainage damage and fallen trees. Craigieburn is without question one of the absolute best MTB destinations in Aotearoa. If you’d like to help keep it that way by donating to the Craigieburn Trails you can find more information here.
For Jamie’s next Nomadic Weekend away he will be heading to Rivenrock Mountain Bike Park in Carterton on the 25th - 27th of Feb. Check out his website for more details.